Very interesting news! If Planckendael again can pull off something alike the bonobo enclosure, they'll undoubtly have another great crowd pleaser. In contrast to @KevinB, I'm not all that said that the tropical walkthrough will be sacrificed for orangutans. I found it relatively underwhelming in comparison to other parts of the zoo. It may however mean the loss of many birds, small mammals and maybe even the only reptile outside the little Australia house, reducing the collection's diversity. I hope that there'll be some room for a supporting cast, though looking at the bonobo enclosure I somehow doubt it.
I'm not even going to disagree with you that the Asian greenhouse walk-through was relatively underwhelming, but I am still conflicted about this change. For me personally the Asian greenhouse already lost much of its luster when they removed the small and medium aviaries within the hall and lost some interesting species with that. Personally I think that the Asian section at Planckendael could definitely do with a better walk-through aviary of some kind, say something along the lines of the aviaries the African and American sections. It would probably work better than the greenhouse. The pythons were already removed from the Asian greenhouse last summer, their exhibit has already been (temporarily?) renovated to hold the Luzon cloud rats. You are not wrong about the bonobo house being only bonobos - despite the original plans including birds - so I'm not going to have very high hopes for other species.
A Kordofan giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis antiquorum) was born at Planckendael on Sunday. This is the last foal sired by the breeding male that unfortunately died in 2019. Security Check Required
I am looking for the accurate data of the new bonobo enclosure (area, height, space). Thanks in advance...
More detailed plans are revealed last week and it appears that the orangs will be housed in a separate and new building, attached to and built in front of the Asia Greenhouse. There will be 5 (each between 300 and 400 m²) islands and the zoo intend to keep the orangs with the black-crested macaques and the gibbons. The outside aviary between the greenhouse and the restaurant will be moved tot the other (lion) side; so far there’s no indication about the species it will hold. These plans do not exclude in anyway the holding of birds, small mammals and reptiles in the main hall (although nothing is mentioned).
Indeed! Binturongs are also mentioned in the plans, which I don't think have been mentioned in this thread yet anywhere and would be a new species for Planckendael. I'm fairly excited about this new development and happy that the new orangutan will take the form of an addition to the tropical hall instead of interfering with the current tropical hall too much - Hopefully this addition can also have a positive influence on the inside of the hall, by highlighting it and potentially removing the indoor gibbon island, which could improve the general organisation and look. I'm looking forward to the changes! Detailed plans and the architect's notes in Dutch are available here (the list of downloadable pdf's, mainly the first and third file are relevant): Omgevingsloket - Publiek loket
I welcome the addition of binturongs as I find them quite an interesting species. The permit application unfortunately does not mention anything with regards to the fate of the existing Asian greenhouse. One can safely assume it will be undergoing some rather substantial changes to be connected to/integrated with the new orangutan house. But its future purpose and content still remain a mystery. The cross-section profile ('terreinprofiel') that is also included with the files Vision linked to (which, by the way, will only be available as long as the permit application is in public consultation, so download them ASAP) indicated that the new orangutan house will be a fair bit higher than the existing Asian greenhouse (which itself isn't that low). So presumably there will be some effects on the light exposure of the existing Asian greenhouse, and I don't know what that means for its future purpose. There has been some (unofficial and unconfirmed) talk in Dutch zoo nerd media of the existing greenhouse becoming at least partially an indoor playground and/or restaurant area, and these plans don't take that off the table. I really, really hope that does not come to fruition, or at least not for the entirety of the building. I really hope that the Asian greenhouse will continue to provide at least some space for bird and small mammal species, as I think that would very nicely compliment the orangutan, binturong, otter, macaque and gibbon house and islands.
It has been confirmed in the architect's draft that the species they are most likely to get are Bornean. To be honest I'm not surprised - given that Antwerp has a historical record of keeping the species, and that the only Belgian zoos with orangutans (Monde Sauvage and Pairi Daiza) both keep Sumatran, so there's certainly room in the Belgian zoo world for Bornean holders.
The first European white storks of Planckendael's large colony have already returned, substantially earlier than they normally would, possibly due to the mild weather. Ten individual have already returned, adding to the twenty non-migrating birds that stay in Planckendael all year round. When I visited a couple of weeks ago I did notice that some storks were already on their nest and displaying early nesting/courtship behaviors. I've never seen it that early in the year before. The article below also says that five stork nesting platforms have been placed in the nature reserve "De Zegge" in Geel, Belgium. That nature reserve is owned by the Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp that also owns Zoo Antwerpen, Zoo Planckendael and the Serpentarium in Blankenberge (Belgian coast) but is not accessible to the public. Storks already visit "De Zegge" and they hope to establish breeding pairs in the area. Vroege vogels in Planckendael en De Zegge: “Hopen op een koppeltje”
Another major animal-related incident at Planckendael today, unfortunately. This time birds have escaped from a hole in the netting of the Chilean aviary. According to the article below some ibises are outside the aviary but are not leaving the environment and are hoped to be returned by tonight by the keepers. However, no less than 18 Inca terns are unfortunately missing and flying free outside the park. Planckendael is calling for people who see the inca terns to notify them so they can hopefully find them and get them back. I really, really hope they didn't lose all of their inca terns (a species I really like) and that they can get all or at least most of their birds back (is there any precedent on such incidents and whether they can end positively?). This incident also raises a lot of questions about how there suddenly came to be a hole in the aviary. If it is related to the windy weather of the last few weeks then why did it happen or did it only become a problem now? I think Planckendael will have to take a very serious look at and do some very rigorous checks on a number of things after this, so there hopefully won't be any further incidents. I'm starting to question a little whether they are truly doing things right at Planckendael now and whether the animals are truly safe and in good hands there. And I'm sure other people will have similar questions. I also think the critics of zoos will likely use such incidents as arguments. Therefore it is very regrettable that such incidents take place, and that one again involves Planckendael. This will not do their public reputation, or that of zoos in general, any good. Privacy settings
I think we should keep the ball low (= german saying for: not exaggerate) and wait what investigations bring up. Of course, zoos have a special responsibility to care not only for their animals but also for visitors and employees. However, accidents can and will happen (and sometimes in the same institution immediately after the last incident). The most important thing is that people learn and improve from it. I also cross my fingers that all escaped birds will be caught again.
I think the ball should never have gone up. Animals escape sometimes their habitats (through people mistakes, or technical malfunctions), but it happens. It really is not a big deal when it happens, and sometimes gives funny newspaper headlines. But as long as there are no major errors it can and will for sure happen again.
Escapes are something that can happen at a zoo, yes, but still everything should be done to prevent them. And in my opinion it is at this point an open question that should be raised whether everything that could be done was done at Planckendael and whether there were no major errors made with regards to the safety of that aviary. And that should definitely be investigated thoroughly. I would never call dozens of birds escaping once and 18 being lost from the park a small deal - that is in my opinion a major incident, regardless of the cause, and something that could have serious consequences for zoos. There should be no simple excuse for something like what happened today. I really hope they can return all the birds to their aviary. I don't fear too much for the birds still in the park, but with regards to the Inca terns flying free outside of the park I don't have much hope. I don't see how you would ever catch them and I doubt they will survive for very long.
Not the first time and probably not the last: these events do happen. However, I would reserve judgement and not make bold(er) statements than is fair. Einfach mal Tee trinken!
A small update on what has happened today, according to VRT NWS: - Two Inca terns have been recovered. One returned to Planckendael on its own, one was noticed and caught in a private garden in Zaventem. - Another Inca tern has been seen in Gooik (Vlaams-Brabant), which is already quite a few kilometers away from Planckendael. This bird has not yet been recovered. - 'Pink birds' (the scarlet ibises presumably) have been seen in gardens near Planckendael. So it seems they did not succeed in luring them back to the aviary, but they are also no longer on Planckendael grounds. That is very bad news. - Some ducks (whistling ducks I guess) also escaped but have returned to the aviary. So there is some minimal good news, but far more to worry about left. After almost 48 hours in cold, windy and wet weather with melting snow I am extremely pessimistic about the fate of the birds still out there. They won't be holding on much longer now. The more I hear about what happened the more of a disaster for Planckendael this seems. I think there will soon be harsh reactions and serious consequences for Planckendael. I can't imagine other zoos being happy about what happened, and the animal welfare authorities are probably not going to let this slide either. Not to speak about public and social media opinions. If Planckendael will be allowed to remain open at all after this my guess would be their visitors numbers will be plumeting further this year. Inca vogel uit Planckendael gespot in Gooik en eentje gevonden in Zaventem Al 2 incasternen terecht na ontsnapping uit Planckendael
I think the only people will will leash out onto Planckendael is going to be PETA supporters or anti-captivity people. Why would others zoos be mad at them for this? I don't recall hearing other zoos being mad at Krefeld or Chester when they had fires. This is a accident that was beyond their control, as to my knowledge the bad weather that Belgium has been experiencing lately is the main reason to why this escape happened. Yes, one may argue that the netting may not have been strong enough, but it likely was made to be storm proof, mistakes just happen. I don't really see how a animal welfare authority will bash on them as like I mentioned before, this is not entirely in their own hands.
